Hey guys, i dont know if one of u is playing hunter as main, but i have a few questions!

1. Is the hunter in gw2 playable and necessary in spvp?
2. If first question is answered with Yes then what is his role? Defending base, this mean ONLY strong in 1v1? or also in 3v3, 4v4,...?
3. Is the pet of the hunter a MUST HAVE, like in some situations in WoW, for example especially in 3v3 arena (WoW)?
4.Does he have many support skills for the group, or only dmg like in WoW and some little ccs, like useless frosttrap, firetrap or other traps that can be easily dodged.

Honestly, no. While it would be fun to have different game modes, imagine the balancing nightmares that would ensue. If this game seriously wants to take itself as an eSport and take a stab at success, I think they are taking the right direction on balancing the game for one game type.

On top of that; this game has amazing positional based PvP. What better game mode to go along with that than conquest with cool secondary objectives for each map?

Thanks for the answer. I have two more questions:

How do you feel about Foefire's use of the Guild Lord, the mechanics of obtaining the kill and the points it gives? If you would like to see it changed, how would you go about it?

Same for Kyhlo. Do you like the involvement of the Trebs? Do they have too much(or too little) health, too much damage? Keep the repair kits or should it have a timer for how long it takes to respawn?

1. How strong is synergy between professions? Like class A that strongly relies (or is even unplayable w/o) on class B (warrior/healer in wow for example), or CC synergy (mage/rogue etc).

There are definitely some extremely strong synergies that are built in to the game and will be exploited. The obvious pointer to that is the combo field system. There are also more subtle synergies, like roots and stuns with high damage channeled skills, and many more. There are certainly professions that can take on more of a support role to provide for more synergies based on your team composition.

#2 was answered quite well by Powerr and a few others.

3. Are there any unique but irreplaceable abilities/skills for certain professions that will make this profession "must have" in the team

At this time there are few certain 'must have's' that I've noticed. Bringing a sustainable form of Stability (immunity to most ccs) seems to be required at this point, but there are several professions that can provide that. The game is still in too much flux at the moment for me to comment on specific professions being required for the current meta. There have been massive changes every test thus far.

4. Looking at current abilities do you see any potential candidate for "its gonna be hard to balance", not sure how to describe it (smoke bomb equivalent)

There are certainly specific abilities that at first glance seem very strong. Mesmer's Moa Morph is the first one that comes to mind for me. The guild wars development team has certainly been responsive with class changes thus far, however.

5. Do you think having "combos" that different professions can do together adds another layer of skill cap, or is it going to be something obvious and used on daily basis

Anything that requires coordination or planning is going to add to the skill cap. Combo fields are certainly going to be a major and obvious influential factor when you pick your team setup and execute your strategy. However, there are so many different combos to use in different situations that will complicate it to a level where I doubt it will ever become a strategy widely used in some of the hotjoin spvp matches amongst players with no coordination.

Edit:

6. If it's not somethign confidential for your current team XD, whats the pattern for picking up professions to your team

At this moment, we're still in trail basis to learn which players enjoy playing which roles on which professions. In other words, we are looking at certain synergies and experimenting, but we've not had a lot of hands on time for practice at this point. I'm sure this will be more clear in the fairly near future after launch when we can practice more of our theorycrafted strategies on a more reliable time frame.

For my compadres answering questions, here are two that the community may find interesting:

Do you feel that conditions are adequately countered by condi removal in order to allow other forms of damage to be viable within each class?

Which class do you believe to be the most "underpowered" based off of your experience playing with or against them?

Yes, there is enough condition transfers, removals, conversions, etc., to allow for all forms of damage to not just be viable but to be a must!

It depends, the Thief, the Necro, and the Mesmer, were all bottom of the barrel in the last BWE. The Thief had one god tier build, but aside from that everything else was very low. The Necro overall was very underwhelming, although we ran one anyways. The Mesmer was good 1v1, but really had no value in team fights. I think these things could be brought up quite easily though, with the Thief being the most challenging because of the fact it doesn't have cooldowns.

Would a super good player stand out clearly from just "good" players? I feel like in WoW your individual skill can easily be overshadowed by inbalance, gear, etc. I'm interested to know if being especially good can get you very far, or if teamplay is more important, etc.

Will there be any rating system like in WoW? I've heard there's probably going to be 5v5, will that have a rated ladder etc? Is it likely they'll add 3v3 to it after release?

Thanks!

Super good players will always stand out, but the difference between very good and amazing is relatively small on most games, Guild Wars 2 is no exception. Some builds are easier to play than others, every build has a counter (some do not have hard counters as of now, but it will come), therefore you won't be able to make the difference just by yourself in a competitive match.

One of your moves can win a teamfight, but this is not an arena, every map has 3 to 5 points on which teamfights & duels/1v2 will happen, often at the same time. In the end, teamplay will most likely take more place than raw "skill", but it's around the lines of a 55% / 45% split. If you assign someone to bunker on a point for a while and that person does not manage to handle a 1v2 for enough time, your team will get behind. If your duellist does not manage to win his 1v1s, your team will get behind, etc.

Long story short, I'd say that teamplay will take a big role in what we usually call "skill cap", so will map awareness and movement between points. Any second wasted is a failure. It will be more than micro managing your character during fights.

That being said, the character management skill ceiling will most likely be way higher than in any MMO up to now.

As for the ranking systems, people probably already answered while I was typing. Yes, there will be ladders, we just do not know when.

Another question, which map do you guys think produces the best games currently and why? Similarly which map needs the most work and why?

In my opinion, I think Forest makes the best games because it incorporates everything needed for a good game. 1v1s for the enemy-side base, team fights on mid, roaming from mid when left alone, communication definitely needed for roaming and boss timings.

Some would argue that Kyhlo makes the best games; it's certainly up there, also. I feel that kyhlo is a lot more orientated around better communication (because it has more objectives with you being able to repair/use your treb, destroy/camp enemy treb and repair kit).

I feel that Foefire is the worst for a game because evenly matched teams won't even use the secondary objective (Lord) and if you all the sudden drop way behind, or get 3-capped, it's difficult to get back into the game because of how far each base is from your spawn and how easy it is to roam onto a side base or mid if you stand on the elevation right above mid. So, basically, once there is a triple cap, it is much easier to keep the triple cap in Foefire than it is to regain some of the nodes.

How do you feel about Foefire's use of the Guild Lord, the mechanics of obtaining the kill and the points it gives? If you would like to see it changed, how would you go about it?

I like Foefire a lot actually because it feels like a nice throwback to GW1. These extra features of the maps provide a really nice wrinkle in strategy. Teams are no longer just fighting over 3 points but now one team can split off 1 or two people and take down a gate to a base. Then send in a 2 man split to kill the Lord mobs. This forces the home team to react and the chain effect on strategy is just glorious.

If I were to change something about this map, I would probably change the layout of the points so that it is more difficult for a team to camp another team's base. This is really the only issue I see in most maps is the ability of one team to hold 3 points by positioning themselves in a way that makes it difficult for their opponents to back cap them.

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Same for Kyhlo. Do you like the involvement of the Trebs? Do they have too much(or too little) health, too much damage? Keep the repair kits or should it have a timer for how long it takes to respawn?

The trebs again add a beautiful new element in the strategy of a team when on Kyhlo. The direction that the devs seem to have taken on the trebs is to make them fairly easy to kill, but to allow the repair kit to be brought back quickly as well. Teams find themselves attempting to cap points, kill the enemy treb and hold their treb against attackers. The team that multi-tasks the best usually wins.

If the Trebs went on a timer, then I would have to insist on an increase in HP.

In my opinion, I think Forest makes the best games because it incorporates everything needed for a good game. 1v1s for the enemy-side base, team fights on mid, roaming from mid when left alone, communication definitely needed for roaming and boss timings.

Some would argue that Kyhlo makes the best games; it's certainly up there, also. I feel that kyhlo is a lot more orientated around better communication (because it has more objectives with you being able to repair/use your treb, destroy/camp enemy treb and repair kit).

I feel that Foefire is the worst for a game because evenly matched teams won't even use the secondary objective (Lord) and if you all the sudden drop way behind, or get 3-capped, it's difficult to get back into the game because of how far each base is from your spawn and how easy it is to roam onto a side base or mid if you stand on the elevation right above mid. So, basically, once there is a triple cap, it is much easier to keep the triple cap in Foefire than it is to regain some of the nodes.

Definitly agree with that.

Foefire is far too small and it takes to much time and work to kill the lord of the other team. Khylo and Forest are nearly the same, but i would take forest on first place as well.

How do you feel about Foefire's use of the Guild Lord, the mechanics of obtaining the kill and the points it gives? If you would like to see it changed, how would you go about it?

Same for Kyhlo. Do you like the involvement of the Trebs? Do they have too much(or too little) health, too much damage? Keep the repair kits or should it have a timer for how long it takes to respawn?

1. I like the idea behind the guild lord, but I feel that the opportunity to go for it is limited and it makes the map more static than Forest or Khylo. As it is implented currently, if the game is close between two teams and each needs ~100 points to win, it can become the focus for the end of the game, but the rest of the game I don't see teams going for it because you would be giving up map control to the other team.

2. The trebuchets on this map are a great implementation for a few different reasons. FIrst off, the trebuchets deal a LOT of damage which will keep the opposing team from turtling up on two points (which I feel to be an issue on Foefire). Yes, you can dodge the trebuchets shots, however you have a limited number of dodges and that means that you will be eating more damage from opponents that you are fighting on or around a node.

The trebuchet also acts as a point of interest and there are often fights over them to stop the enemy from firing it temporarily. You see static maps become an issue in some games (i.e. Arathi Basin in WoW, Alderran in SWToR) where one team has more nodes and will simply just sit on them and defend them. With extra points of interest on the map, it keeps things from getting dull and I think Khylo and Forest both do just that.

What is your opinions on the capture mechanics insofar as it takes twice as long to defend a point as it does to uncap a point. i.e. player Red is attacking a fully capped Blue point with a Blue defender and can uncap the point if he can knock the defender off for ~ 4 seconds over any length of time so long as Red doesn't leave the capture point to allow the defender to reacquire the capture bar; whereas the defender has to knock the attacker off for twice as long to reacquire a full bar. (I think this is interesting in that a defender can only hold a point against an attacker for so long before it's uncapped and becomes necessary for someone to kill the other to take the point, however it also makes certain classes really good at uncapping/taking points 1v1 or 2v2)

Hey guys, i dont know if one of u is playing hunter as main, but i have a few questions!

1. Is the hunter in gw2 playable and necessary in spvp?
2. If first question is answered with Yes then what is his role? Defending base, this mean ONLY strong in 1v1? or also in 3v3, 4v4,...?
3. Is the pet of the hunter a MUST HAVE, like in some situations in WoW, for example especially in 3v3 arena (WoW)?
4.Does he have many support skills for the group, or only dmg like in WoW and some little ccs, like useless frosttrap, firetrap or other traps that can be easily dodged.

Thanks

1. The "Ranger" (just saying ) is very viable, yes. But that fits to every class in the game currently, as the balance is pretty solid on beta status in my opinion.

2. I have experienced extremely strong 1v1 builds on the ranger so far, thus making them great side point defenders. But you have always to consider that you have to sacrifice mobility, group support, and other things that makes him weak in any other situation than 1v1.

3. Pets have a very important role. You can choose between different pets that provide different abilities, like CC, damage, and defense.

4. Every class can be played as a supporting role. The ranger has spirits to give boosts to allies, aoe traps (that are very very powerful if traited and give combo fields), and some other aoe damage/heal skills.

The distance between the 3 points versus the distance from respawn/lord seem to be a bit off at this point in Foefire, making comebacks near impossible. It only takes about 10 seconds to run point to point, versus the 25 seconds it takes to run back at the least, not to mention the ease of seeing enemy movement from spawn to react is simply not difficult.

How do you feel about Foefire's use of the Guild Lord, the mechanics of obtaining the kill and the points it gives? If you would like to see it changed, how would you go about it?

Same for Kyhlo. Do you like the involvement of the Trebs? Do they have too much(or too little) health, too much damage? Keep the repair kits or should it have a timer for how long it takes to respawn?

I think that the Guild Lord is not a good investment of available ressources. Holding points is still better than anything else. I would like to see the Guild Lord giving a way for the loosing team to catch up. Like all points become neutral for 30 seconds after the Lord is killed or something like that.

The treb for Kyhlo is good atm. It is a dynamic mechanic in the sens that you won't be playing with it all game long, you will choose key moments to place someone on your treb, and you will choose key moments to interrupt the ennemy treb. The treb is supposed to be punishing and it is good this way. My favorite secondary mechanic at the moment because it asks the team to take good decisions all game long.

How do you feel about Foefire's use of the Guild Lord, the mechanics of obtaining the kill and the points it gives? If you would like to see it changed, how would you go about it?

Same for Kyhlo. Do you like the involvement of the Trebs? Do they have too much(or too little) health, too much damage? Keep the repair kits or should it have a timer for how long it takes to respawn?

On the guild lord question:

I don't feel like the guild lord is really worth it right now. I never experienced in an even game that he was worth to be killed.
He gives only 100 points, if I remember correctly and for that he is way too hard to kill. Not only because of the guild lord itself, but because the spawn is right next to him and the enemy team will stop you from killing him.
So you either send 1 or 2 players and probably won't succeed killing him or you send more and give up capture points during that time and you will lose more points in the end from that.
They either need to make the guild lord easier to kill or increase the points you get from him. Maybe they can also give a small amount of points for every NPC killed and add even more NPCs, so it's possible to solo them. I'd also like if you could repair the Gate somehow. Would be interesting if there was always a little bit of action going on around the spawn to get a few additional points.

On Khylo:

I feel like Khylo is the most polished map right now. The treb splits up the team so smaller teamfights happen, which I personally like.
The only thing I'd change on Khylo would be a small respawn timer on the Repair Kit, so you can't repair the treb immediatly, once it goes down. But overall I think the treb is fine and makes this map very interesting.

The only thing I'd change on Khylo would be a small respawn timer on the Repair Kit, so you can't repair the treb immediatly, once it goes down. But overall I think the treb is fine and makes this map very interesting.

We make sure we have enough condition removal, combo fields/finishers, utility and control. A solid 3 team fight comp would be Guardian, Warrior, Necro/ele or anything in between really. Each class has its speciality, I think it is key to have condition removal, chill application, stability, and some form of knockdown/fear/knockback for the rez/stomp stage.

It's also good to make sure you have a nice split of condition damage combo'd with power damage.

-I'd like to hear peoples general thoughts on the tradeskill system currently.

-How often is buff food used? Is it always on for every fight?

-Will there be any profession specific boosts like in WoW? (ex. jewelcrafters get to use prismatic gems)

Thanks Dirtt for the questions. These are a bit outside the realm of "SPVP" In GW2 because in the arena's food/potions/class buffs do not take effect inside the arena's.

There is a vast system for crafting that will play a key role in WvW. LotD's background has primarily come from these kinds of games that rely on equipment for WvW combat and even our more experienced crafter types are very excited about this system. I personally am no crafter mind you, but I can say that it will keep anyone preoccupied who chooses to embark into it.

Racial abilities will take effect in WvW and PvE. I am not sure about the crafting professions having any particular buff, but you do gain xp from crafting.

On to my favorite subject, food... it will be one of the most consumed items in WvW. It is essential if you want to be competitive.